What Happened?

AI Transcript

Amen. Well, welcome. It's good to be here before we jump into the word with you. We'll be in John chapter 20, but I want you to imagine a scenario where somehow we were able to gather all the world's greatest thinkers, philosophers, people of power. And we asked them this one question 2000 years from now. What would be the factors in play in a person's life for that person to become the most famous person and the most influential person in the history of the world?

As they gather in that room, they would argue about some things, but there would be some things that come to the surface for sure. That person would have to be born in the right place, have the right opportunities, have the right education, have the right career trajectory, have the right political influence, maybe introduce a new thought or philosophy that would be embraced by the world. And then that person, 2000 years from now, would be the most...

influential famous person in the world. they would not say is that this person would be born in obscurity, in poverty. He would live his whole life within a hundred miles of where he was born. They would not say he would have no formal education, that he was a common laborer with his hands for his first 30 years of life. And when he did try to go public, he gathered 12 other common laborers, fishermen and farmers and even a tax collector.

They would not say just after three years that he would be abandoned by those same men. He would be betrayed by the religious leaders of his country and handed over to the most oppressive foreign government in the history of the world to be tortured and murdered on a cross. It's just not how you would draw it up. Now, pause there because what you need to know is on that first Sunday morning there were no Christians, right?

I always want to remind you of that, that there were no Christians, there was no anticipation, that there was no scheduled sunrise service, there was no grandstands at the garden. Like there was no no Christian, none that were writing themselves into the story saying, well, everyone else abandoned him, but I held out faith. I remembered what he said. No, there was none of that. There was Pontius Pilate, who was just relieved that there wasn't a religious uproar.

uprising in a major Jewish festival and he's now headed with his entourage back to his seaside palace. There's the religious leaders who are sleepy-eyed and satisfied from their Passover meal. There was that thing with Jesus and his followers that caused a little bit of ruckus, but they dealt with that. They got rid of him and when they got rid of him, they got rid of all of his followers. There were some women that were

absolutely devastated. The mother of Jesus, was Mary and others, they were at the cross the whole time. They watched in this, her case, their son and their best friend and everyone, everything to them, breathe out his last breath. Mary followed at a distance as they wrapped his body and took it to a tomb and sealed it behind a stone. They were

They are devastated, dejected. The disciples were disillusioned. They had left everything to follow Jesus. They have left their families, their businesses, and now their hope was dead. Their future was buried. There was no expectation, no hope. They were wondering what they were going to do. Matthew, or rather, John and Peter and others were thinking we could go back to

Galilee and maybe re-enter the family business of fishing Matthew had no prospects as a tax collector And so this is the moment that first Easter morning If you pause right there and now fast forward with me 350 years There's a guy named Theodosus. He's the Roman Emperor and he's in Thessalonica on February 24th 380 AD

He gets baptized as a Christian and he gets out of the water and proclaims Jesus Christ is Lord and King over all kings. And then three days later, he issues what's called the Edict of Thessalonica, where he makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and he ends state sponsored support for the pagan priesthood. Now, fast forward again to today.

where over four billion people will gather to worship a crucified man. And if that's all you knew of the story, the first Easter, what was going on, and then 380 AD and today, if that's all you knew, there'd be one question that would come to your mind. It'd be simply this question, what happened? What happened? What happened that we could get from there to...

380 to today. What happened and what happened is the reason we're here. What happened is the reason we gather every week. What happened is the reason for our entire lives and what we believe as followers of Jesus means everything to us. These are the undisputed facts of history. What happened changes everything. It has the opportunity even today to change.

your life personally, but it doesn't just stop there. What happened is changing the world persistently and changing our lives pervasively every area of our lives. What happened, what was witnessed by multiple people in multiple places, in multiple settings, in houses, and on a road, and in a field, and sometimes with small groups of people, and sometimes with hundreds of people. What happened?

happened over a period of 40 days and what happened changed everything. I want to look through the eyes of the very first person to see what happened. If you have your Bible it's John chapter 20 verses 1 through 18 we're going to be this morning. What happened was recorded by reliable eyewitnesses and what happened

has changed the world. happened is the reason four billion people will gather today. This is what happened. So listen carefully. This is God's says this early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, before the sun had even crested the horizon, although there was a glow in the sky, says Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. Again, Mary was at the cross.

Mary was crying her eyes out as they took his body down as they wrapped him as they took him to the garden tomb. She was there. She knew exactly where he was. And now after the Passover she's she's devastated but she wants to honor the body of the person that radically changed her life. Luke tells us that Jesus had cast out seven demons from Mary. She was spiritually physically mentally emotionally afflicted.

And Jesus had set her free and she had put all her hope in Jesus. So she is headed to the tomb. Now the other Gospels tell us it's not just her there. are other women with there. but John laser focuses on Mary says Mary went to the tomb and they were wondering how they were going to remove the stone. But they hadn't really thought through the logistics. But as she goes it says and she saw that the stone had been

removed from the entrance. Implication also she saw into the tomb and she saw that the tomb was empty. And this shocked her. As I say every Easter Sunday nobody expected no body. Nobody expected no body. She didn't look in and she's like well Christ is risen. No she's even more distraught. What.

is happening here. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple. The other disciple is John's way of writing himself in the story. It's he's trying to be humble, but as you'll see, maybe not so much. He says the other disciples. So Simon and John are just wondering how they're going to make it back safely to Galilee without.

Maybe being caught by anyone and being crucified like Jesus was crucified and also a frantic knocking is on the door and they're like, what is that? Is that the authorities? But they hear they hear Mary's voice. Let me in. Let me in. And and they open it up and she comes running and says to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. I love that. I just imagine in heaven every Easter.

John and Peter are together and Peter's like, dude, what's wrong with you? He loved all of us. Like, yeah, Peter, he did, but he did love others more than others. So and he's like, and I'm the one Jesus. Why didn't you just put your name, John? I was trying to be humble. OK, so the other disciple and the one Jesus loved and said, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have put him.

She doesn't say, hey, Christ is risen and Peter say he is risen indeed. No, they're like, what is going on? The tomb is empty. We don't know where they have put him. And so Peter and the other disciple, that's the one Jesus loved in case you weren't keeping track, started for the tomb and both were running. But the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Again, Peter's got to be like, dude,

What are you talking? Well, I can't bear false witness. That's how it happened. Peter, you're the rock. You're slow, but I was fast. And he's like, that's not an important detail. I thought it was. I thought it was. he got to the tomb first, but he stops at the tomb. says, both were running, but the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in. The word looked in there. You're going to see various...

renditions of the word to see, to look, to behold throughout this whole passage. But the word looked in here is blepo. He's just observing. It's the most common word. looked in at the strips of linen lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, big old Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. Now it says he saw the strips of linen lying there.

as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head, the cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Now, when John says, saw, it's a different word. It's not bleppo, it's threo. We get the word theorize. It's when you come across something that does not make sense and your mind is trying to make sense of it. Because here's the deal. If it's common grave robbers,

The valuable thing is the strips of linen, not the body. If it's common grave robbers, they wouldn't leave the tomb in an orderly fashion. Furthermore, he sees the strips of linen. Some say that it is like a locust shell after the locust leaves. It's empty. But then there's this head covering. And that's not just discarded, thrown on the floor. It's neatly folded up and put on.

the shelf. This does not make sense. But he's theorizing he's trying to make sense of it. says finally the other disciple the one Jesus loved who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw that's another different word he now sees not just with his eyes but with his heart and his soul he sees and believes.

There's something that unlocks in his mind. He believes Jesus is alive. That word believe is one of the most important words in the whole New Testament. The word is pistis. It doesn't just mean I think something is true. It means with my whole being I trust that something is true. He believes. It says they still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

Then the disciples went back to where they're staying. Imagine that conversation on the way back. John is saying. I don't think someone stole his body. It doesn't make sense, right, Peter? It's like, no, it doesn't make sense. I think he might be alive. Like, how is that possible? John, you were there. You saw Jesus take his last breath. You saw the Roman soldiers put the spear in his side and pierced his heart. How can it be dead people?

don't come back to life, at least not on their own. And so they're theorizing and as they're making their way back, apparently there's multiple ways through the city to the garden. And Mary now is on her way back, but they don't pass each other. Mary's just devastated. She says, I got to go see this again. And so as she's walking back to the city, we pick up the story in verse 11. Now, Mary stood outside the tomb crying.

We're crying there is is a loud weeping and wailing. Ever cried like that? Where it is a whole body experience where you can't get your breath, where there's snot coming out of your nose and it's in your eyes. And this is how devastated there is no hope for her in this moment. So that she wept. She bent over to look into the tomb. She's so distraught that

Even what she sees next doesn't clue her into something that's happening here. She says she looks into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus's body had been. One at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, woman, why are you crying? The angels are always perplexed by our response because this should be the greatest

day in Mary's life and they know what's happened and they also know that Jesus told everybody this is going to happen and when it happens everyone's devastated and the angels are like what is wrong with you why are you crying this is not a time to cry she says they have taken my lord away and I don't know where they have put him at this

She turned and saw there's the word again. She saw but she didn't see. She saw Jesus standing there but she did not realize that it was Jesus. There may be many reasons for this. The whole snot and tears covering the whole eyes that that that could be one reason. The other one is that that maybe Jesus is intentionally like on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter four hasn't revealed himself.

Truly to her. Maybe it's because he's got a physical resurrected spiritual body that's so glorious she can't connect the dots. Maybe it's just because it's so far outside of her thinking and all Jewish thinking that one man in the middle of history would resurrect. The Jews did believe that there would be a resurrection at the very end of time of all the righteous. But now one man in the middle of history. So she does not recognize him.

He asked her, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for? It's a good question. It's a good question for all of us this morning. If we're honest with our hearts, with our lives, who is it that you're looking for? Who or what is it that you're looking for? What do you think? What will bring you satisfaction in life? Who is it that you're looking for? Then it says, thinking he was.

the gardener. And I love that because she's not that far off. Right. She thinks it's just the gardener. But humanity's story begins in a garden. And they were tasked, Adam and Eve, with God in fellowship, perfect fellowship, to live together and to tend the garden. And now she thinks the gardener is here. The gardener is here. He's come to renew and redeem all of the cosmos and make the garden come back.

Again, thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him. I will get him.

Salvation, if it is anything, first and foremost, has got to be personal. That's not the only thing, as we'll see, but it has to be personal. We don't get saved. We don't enter the kingdom of God on our nationality. We don't get saved on the faith of our parents. We don't get saved because we're Americans. We don't get saved because I had a grand, granddaddy that was a Baptist. No, it has to be.

apprehended personally. And this is what happens to Mary. Jesus said to her, Mary, she's heard that voice before. And it's in that moment where the son of God resurrected from the dead, having conquered sin, death in the grave stands before her. But I suspect not directly before her.

He's in the garden, but he's a ways away. he says, Mary, in that moment it clicked. She turned toward him. And I imagine it doesn't sit. John doesn't tell us this, but I imagine in that moment she runs at full speed across the garden. She gives the greatest bear hug the world has ever seen. Wraps her arms around Jesus and she cries out, rabboni! My teacher, my savior, my Lord. She's just.

Clinging to him now there there's more tears, but they're tears of joy and Jesus with a smile on his face and laughter in his voice says do not hold on to me Don't cling on to me. It's not over yet. I still I have to have not yet descended ascended to my father Go instead To my brothers and tell them I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God salvation is

first and foremost, personal. You have to hear the voice of Jesus wooing you in saying, come to me, come to me. But it doesn't end there. Did you see that? It's not just personal. We hope that you have a very personal encounter with Jesus. But even in the very first encounter with Jesus' resurrected body, it goes beyond that. It goes public. Did you see what he said? Go instead. He immediately fills her life

with mission and with purpose. And he will do it for the rest of her life. And he will do it for our life. It's personal, but it's also pervasive. It's to go through our whole life. When he says go, he's sending her. The Greek word for sent is apostelo. We get the word apostle. The apostles are sent. This is where Augustine says Mary Magdalene was the apostle, the sent one to the apostles.

She goes and tells the apostles. Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news, I have seen the Lord. She told them that he had said these things to her. Now, here's the thing. We know from the other gospels when she tells them, they're like, we don't think so. But that really wasn't her calling. She didn't have to convince them. She was just a witness.

Here's what the Lord has done. That's true for all of us. We're so worried that people will reject us if we tell them about Jesus. They will. And that's OK. But some won't. And it will become personal for them. And then Jesus will become pervasive in their life and his rescuing work will be persistent forever and ever for two thousand years. This is how Christians have understood rightly their relationship with the Lord.

that it comes first personal. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes, whoever trusts in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That's not just when you die you get to go to heaven. Eternal life is immediately and now you are transferred from the domain of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the sun God loves. Eternal life is a quality of life.

here and now and forever. it doesn't stop there. It's pervasive. Christians have understood like Theodosus that Jesus is Lord of all. is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That means he's Lord over every single area of our lives. Every item on our calendars, every check, everything in our bank account, everything in our dreams and our plans. He is Lord over all.

He's not Lord at all if he's not Lord overall in your life. You can't come to Jesus as only savior and not as Lord. That'd be like saying, Mark, you can come over to my house, but I don't want Ashman to come into your house, to my house. I'm like, no, I'm Mark Ashman. Well, I don't want the Ashman part. No, I am. This is what Jesus saying. I'm Lord and savior. I'm so worried that we have so personalized

Jesus in the American church that we have actually not worshiped the true Jesus We've actually just come to a fire insurance policy that Jesus gets us into heaven when we die But we won't go to heaven when we die because he's not Lord of our lives so Christians have always understood. It's personal. It's pervasive and it's persistent What Jesus begun on that first? Easter Sunday morning. He is continuing it was

the down payment of the resurrection, not just of his body, but of the entire cosmos. Here's what Paul says in Colossians chapter one. Jesus is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Why? To reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, things visible and invisible. Jesus's resurrection was the down payment on our eternal future in a renewed.

cosmos in the Lord of the Rings at the very end after the ring is destroyed Samwise Gamgee realizes that darkness is being reversed and he says this to Gandalf everything sad is going to come untrue everything sad is going to come untrue that's true that's what happened what happened Christ conquered sin death in the grave

Christ reigns over all. And when the disciples encounter the resurrected Christ, they go from these timid, fearful men to lions of the faith. They immediately reengage with the mission of Christ. And they take this name and this story to their graves. Often because of this story, they are martyred for it.

It's an unstoppable movement that was launched and this is why we gather. So my story was when I was 18, God wooed me to himself, rescued and redeemed me, gave me new life, turned me from a life of self-centered rebellion and to following him. Now, immediately things didn't look that much different, but he is continuing to work pervasively in my life. I have a long way to go, but it's been the greatest.

adventure and journey ever that I've ever had. And so my prayer this morning and this week for you is if you've already encountered the Lord Jesus Christ and you've made it personal and it is pervasive in your life, growing in your life, and it is through your life persistently renewing the world, then today would just be a day that fuels your faith. That you would hear Jesus call you and say,

love you, but you would also hear Jesus call you and say, now go, go tell the world of what has happened. If you're not a believer, well, today is a day that you can. Today is a day that you can hear a voice, Lord willing, other than my voice, the voice of the Spirit of God, wooing you, calling you, saying, you can come to me, put your trust in me, believe in me. And today, by the

authority of the Word of God and by the Spirit of God, you can enter into new life. In a moment, I'm going to pray. You can confess your sins. You can turn to Jesus. You can tell someone who brought you or invited you or talked to one of the pastors, but do not miss this opportunity to encounter the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me pray for us to that end.